Before Crisis
by Unlimited Blade Works
Summary: As their enemy moves in the darkness Ozpin makes a choice that will change fate once more. The children that were once small and helpless will become warriors ready for their greatest moments and finest hour, but mankind can not gain anything without losing something in return. Welcome to a world of bloody evolution.
**Before Crisis**

 **Chapter One: Hell to Come**

 **Authors Notes Start-**

This has been on the back burner for awhile.

There are five versions of this chapter, this is the one I was finally happy with.

Also it has not yet been Edited, I'll get on that after I get some shut eye since it's 5am here and I have things to do today so I need rest.

Please enjoy

In addition to that this version has now been edited and God Damn! Does tired me make bad choices in the punctuation, spelling, and not being overly redundant departments.

Still considering I did do most of the work on this at hours that were all very early in the morning I can forgive some of that, though awake, and arguably smarter, me really should have told tired me to hold off on posting this until they had gone through it and gotten rid of most of the major stuff.

Still most of the glaring errors should be gone now so that should make for an easier read. Still it is still Ozpin talking for 75-80% of the chapter. Though we do get some more of Naruto's past in some anecdotes and mentions of past events. Somehow this chapter gained almost 4000 words as well during editing, no idea how that happened.

Also for that one guy who asked Naruto is 22 in this, he left Beacon at 20.

Anyway enjoy.

 **Authors Notes End-**

 **Chapter Start-**

"So you do understand our deal correct?" Ozpin looked sternly at the man before him. Certainly it was the way a parent would look at a child that was known for misbehaving but considering he had known Naruto Uzuamki since the man was ten years old Ozpin felt he had earned that. After all Naruto was known for misbehaving, collateral damage tended to be unbelievably high every single time his new employee chose to take a fight seriously.

They had actually banned him from entering The Vytal Tournament out of concern that he would bring the arena down around himself by getting a little to excited.

"Yep!" The blond answered, his blue eyes looking straight into Ozpin's own with a kind of barely controlled enthusiasm. "Train kiddies into effective murder machines for somewhere between two and three years. Collect paycheck while doing so and get free room and meals while teaching, did I miss anything?" Naruto asked as he rubbed the back of his head, Ozpin knew for a fact that was his former students version of a nervous tick and it was actually a good thing that he was seeing it, that meant Naruto was taking the job seriously. The white haired Headmaster looked his new employee over, it also seemed that he would not be changing out of his usual dress for his new job.

Combat boots, black with orange laces, black pants with flame like orange designs on their cuffs held up by an orange belt that kept said pants in place. Ozpin knew for a fact that the silver belt buckle that was a stylized spiral concealed a single shot dust pistol hidden within. A black long sleeved shirt with an orange outline and though he could not see it due to the red coat that Naruto placed over his outfit Ozpin knew for a fact that there was a red spiral on his left shoulder. Keeping with the theme of fire the coat also bore a flame like design, this time in black as opposed to orange, around its edge. It was finished by the pair of fingerless orange gloves Naruto had taken to wearing. It was also a good thing that Beacon didn't have a dress code for their Professors. Ozpin was fairly certain that Naruto would have rather died than be forced to give up his coat.

"Well you did forget that I'm also including a rather good health and dental plan but other than those small details, yes that is everything." To Ozpin it was actually a little amazing that Naruto had agreed to take the job in the first place. The other members of Team Seven, the ones he could find at any rate, had flatly refused. Naruto out of all of them had the most reason to not come back. Two months before his graduation his grandmother had gone missing, well actually left was a more accurate summation as it was quite clear that Mito Uzumaki had planned her own disappearance. This fact was proven by the fact that she had changed the deed of her house in Vacuo to Naruto's name before she had disappeared. Not that Naruto had been detered by the fact his grandmother had seemingly masterminded her own disappearance. He had gone back to Vacuo intent on figuring out why Mito Uzumaki had chosen to disappear and dragged the other members of Team Seven, Gaara of the Desert, Neopolitan and Sasuke Uchiha with him.

It was custom in Beacon to name teams after their initials but both Glynda and he had failed at creating a decent name using that method. So Ozpin had chosen to make his life simpler instead, just adding all of their birthdays together then dividing by four gave the answer seven and so the name Team Seven was born.

Ozpin still didn't know what had happened during their travels throughout Vacuo but there were some things he knew as fact. Sasuke Uchiha had left to return to Atlas after a year. The young man was recalled by Uchiha Technologies, the same company that designed and built much of Atlas' weaponry along side The Schnee Dust Company. Gaara of the Desert had chosen to stay in his home village once they had arrived at it, six months after Sasuke had returned to Atlas. His village was know to outsiders as The Village Hidden in the Sands, one of the many 'hidden villages' inside the deserts of Vacuo. Due to it's oasis it was also the largest of these and the most prone to being hit by large amounts of Grimm that managed to make it across the desert without being killed by one of its many hazards.

Ozpin would acknowledge that Gaara was perfect for the defence of his home. The man's Semblance allowed him to freely control sand, not to mention giving him an automatic defence as the sand he carried around with him would stop attacks without any conscious input on Gaara's part. That left Naruto to travel with just one person Neopolitan, no last name, the same woman that he had been partners with throughout his time at Beacon. Then, six months ago, Naruto Uzumaki had returned to Vale, sans Neopolitan, and seemingly at peace with whatever had happened. Other than saying the matter was dealt with he refused to elaborate and no one had been able to find hide nor hair of Neo for the last six months.

Naruto, the only person who could possibly help with that matter, was keeping unusually silent on the subject. In addition to staying quiet about whatever had convinced him to return to Vale without finding his grandmother. Which was very much out of character for the blond, never before had Ozpin seen his former student give up without accomplishing what he set out to do. Which, naturally, just made him more curious about what had happened.

"Now then, do you have any last minute questions before I let your new students up?" The white haired Headmaster inquired looking down at the small button on his desk that would allow Team's RWBY and JNPR to use his elevator. Naruto's face scrunched up in thought, his whisker like birth marks twisting and making him look a little like a fox that had picked up a particularly nasty scent.

"Yeah actually," Naruto replied looking at Ozpin his eyes narrowing. It was the same expression that he wore whenever he was about to do something extremely dangerous or extremely stupid, or both. For example the time Naruto had chosen to charge into a line of Goliaths without waiting for his team to arrive as back up. The fact that he was still alive, and the mission of destroying the three Alpha's of the Heard had been completed. How they had managed that out of the absolute chaos of that mission still baffled him to this day. But it was either proof of Naruto's skill or proof that he had more pure dumb luck than any one man deserved, possibly both.

Ozpin was still trying to decide two years after the fact which one it was, or if it was actually both of them at the same time. On a side note Glynda was of the opinion that it was proof of lack rather than kill and refused to be budged on her position. Which was also why she knew nothing of this job offer. Because, quite frankly, his second in command would likely try to stop it from happening. Naruto's record for collateral damage was incredible that was a fact no one, not even the man himself, could contest in good conscience.

The last thing Glynda would want was the possibility of that, admittedly extremely bad, habbit being passed on. Truthfully Ozpin was of the same opinion, cleaning up after one of Naruto's fights had never been either cheap or easy, but with all the things that seemed to be looming on the horizon Ozpin had wanted his most powerful pieces as close to Vale as he could get them. Garra had refused as had Sasuke and no one aside from the man before him had any earthly idea where Neopolitan was and he wasn't talking. All of this coming together meant that his final chance of getting one of them in Vale on a regular basis, as well as arguably the most powerful member of that team, was Naruto.

This meant, quite naturally, that Ozpin would just have to make sure that Naruto's penchant for collateral damage was not passed on. Unfortunately one of the teams that he would be tutoring included Miss Xaio-Long so that dream was probably already dead, still one could hope.

"Why exactly is Jaune Arc here?" The question was straight to the point with no fanfare. Ozpin took a second to consider his answer, he already knew the boy's transcript to be fake. There were always a few that attempted to try and sneak in. Beacon Academy was, after all, considered to be the finest institution that produced Hunters and Huntresses and there were always at least a few people who wished to have a place at his school without doing the hard yards first. Most of these attempts took the form of the aspiring cheat using fake transcripts such as Mr Arc had done. Of course it was also not uncommon for those attempting to cheat their way into his school to alter a real transcript in an attempt to take another's place by assuming their identity, those who used this appoach tended to be the dumber of the two camps. Both types were usually quickly seen through but it did happen often enough with each intake of new students that it had become basic policy to double check all transcripts with their place of origin.

Thanks to that it was very easy to find out who had real papers and who was simply a fake trying to cheat the system. Not that Ozpin minded the cheaters all that much, most of them were simply misguided children who just wanted to be heroes without having to do all of the work. It was for that reason that he allowed them to take The Emerald Forest Entrance Exam. Granted unlike the actual applicants they had a member of staff or an third year student that could be trusted watching them at all times to make sure they didn't die. The Emerald Forest scared almost all of them into quitting and before Mr Arc none had actually passed the exam. That said in a couple of cases it had led to the cheater actually cleaning up their act and joining one of The Four Kingdoms armies to protect the people rather than simply giving up like most did.

While Naruto had never personally met Jaune Arc. What he had seen from the few minutes worth of battle recordings from the forest, which did not even the event when Miss Nikos activated his Aura. Along with the discrepancies that became apparent in Mr Arc's transcript after doing so. With all that information it was easy enough for Naruto to work out that the transcript was a fake and as one of the third years that had shadowed cheats in the forest he knew what was supposed to happen to fakes. Of course the other conclusion that one could draw from this information was that Mr Arc did not perform well under pressure. There was enough information available to conclude either theory could be the correct one and most would not be willing to believe that the Headmaster of Beacon Academy would let a sub standard student into his academy. It was at times like this that Ozpin was forcibly reminded that while Naruto Uzumaki was more than a little headstrong. There was absolutely no one in the world better at seeing through to the truth.

It was the reason he had been selected as the leader of Team Seven in the first place after all. Well that and his almost supernatural ability to convince people to follow him into situations that any sane person should avoid like the plague.

"He is here because he has potential." Ozpin allowed after a moment. The truth was a powerful weapon one that, depending on how it was presented, could do be used to do either great harm or good. Today he intended to wield it to it's full potential.

"Originally I had planned to send him home along with the other three that attempted to sneak in. However while inside of the forest he showed not only great courage in never backing away from a Grimm if it could harm his allies but also, despite only just having his Aura awakened by Miss Nikos that same day it is impressively powerful. Honestly just seeing both of those traits shows that he has a large amount of potential, potential I would like to help him reach." Ozpin pretended not to notice the look of utter disbelief on the other man's face.

Though he would admit that even he was surprised at Mr Arc's performance, very surprised as a matter of fact. Though he suspected that Naruto was more in shock at the fact that the boy chose to enter an academy for Huntsmen without even having his Aura unlocked. It was probably better that he did not mention that Mr Arc had no idea what Aura even was before Miss Nikos chose to awaken his own, Ozpin was fairly certain now even the unpredictable Uzumaki would be able to take that information without shutting down for a minute or two in order to process it, lord knew Glynda hadn't.

"His actions in defending his friends against the Deathstalker reminded me of the actions of a little boy I met over ten years ago. A stubborn little brat who used a katana to fend off a group of Boarbatusks in the defence of others despite not knowing how to use his Aura yet and, if I am remembering correctly, being told not to leave his hiding place." Brown eyes settled on the blade laying next to the chair that Naruto had vacated some minutes before, the same blade that had killed a Grimm before its user even knew how to fight properly.

It was a beautiful weapon and one of the few that had no secondary mode for long range attacks. The katana's blade was rather long measuring just a little over five feet in length. Of course that wasn't a real problem considering that it's user stood over six feet tall and as such the blade could still be used while keeping a full range of movement. Seeing Naruto use the blade as a child though had been both ridiculous and amazing. That was especially true when he had managed to actually kill the Boarbatusk that had been trying to attack the other children. Though granted he had been given assistance by Sasuke Uchiha who had helped the blond use the blade as a leaver to flip the Grimm over before killing it.

The hilt of the blade was white capped by a gold coloured metal that Ozpin had never been able to discover the origin of while a black diamond like contrasted against the white and ran up the middle of the hilt. It's circular guard was the same strange gold metal as the hilt cap and carried the design of a dragon and a tiger locked in combat. The blade itself, though it could not be seen, Ozpin knew it to look like normal steel. But it carried with it an almost silver like sheen and whatever metal the blade was made of was far stronger than steel even if the metal was being reinforce by Aura.

It was the blades sheath that broke from Naruto's colour choices of black, red and orange. The sheath was lacquered a deep blue and carried a red and yellow cord to tie it to Naruto's belt, not that the blond carried it like that very often. Naruto instead had shown a preference in holding the scabbard and making use of Iai style strikes. That said Ozpin knew that the cords were not made of fabric. They were actually rather small cables that when charged with Aura would react with the small metal plate on the left side of Naruto's belt and then stick to it, securing the blade to his side. Naruto had once told him, in private, that he had chosen the colours to match his parents hair.

The sheath also appeared to be made of the same, or at least very similar, metal as his sword making it both lightweight and strong. To this day Ozpin still wondered exactly what the metal was as none he had ever encountered, or researched for that matter, seemed to have the same properties unless enhanced by Aura. However Naruto was quite open in not knowing exactly what Yamato was made from himself. All that he knew of the katana was that it had been a gift from his grandmother. Ozpin had gone as far as to seek out and speak to Mito Uzumaki in person but she had never broken her silence on the nature of the highly unusual metal.

"How much potential are we talking?" Naruto's words brought him back to the present, it wouldn't do to go off wondering about that wondrous metal while he had company. In truth, though it was admittedly rather underhanded. He had once tried to take a sample of the metal off of the blade when Naruto had been attending Beacon. No tool or technique he had used left so much as a scratch on the katana. Even the most advanced Atlas technology that he had gained from James after cashing in several favours had been able to do so much as blemish the metal.

"More than most, though less than some." He admitted taking another sip of coffee. "Mr Arc has a large amount of Aura for a man his age. In fact for a young man who has never had active training before it is far more than he realistically should possess, though admittedly nowhere near as much as you possessed at the same age. However I would like you to focus on his combat skill first before teaching him any Aura manipulation. I believe you said he used his sword like a club when you reviewed the battle footage. I do not know how much training he has had in the art of the sword but I suspect it is not much, if he ever had any to begin with. Mr Arc has also yet to figure out his Semblance but I suspect that will come in time, one should not rush these things after all." Naruto's face scrunched up at his words, Ozpin was not surprised by that.

Naruto was twenty two years of age and had spent the vast majority of his life training to be a Huntsman and yet to this day he still had not found his Semblance. Yet, despite that, he had still graduated from Beacon without even once activating it. That was something no one had managed before or since, though given that he had only be gone for two years that was not saying much. Still Beacon Academy had been around for eighty years so anything being a first was impressive really.

Naruto was unique, his Arua was powerful, incredibly so in fact. These days he could ignore anything short of an Alpha attacking. This was because the defensive properties of his Aura was great enough that anything short of an Alpha, or an extremely large number of lesser Grimm attacking simultaneously, simply would not be able to do enough damage fast enough to reduce Naruto's Aura to the point they could damage him directly. It was also due to this reason, ironically enough, that he was the best teacher available for the two teams despite his inclination towards collateral damage.

Semblance really could not be trained unless by the user themselves. Every Semblance was in some way different from every other Semblance, even if the effects of two different Semblances could be almost identical. The user had to discover these in and outs on their own and then work out how to best incorporate those advantages and disadvantages into their combat style. The best a teacher could offer on instructing their students in the use of Semblance was ideas and advice that had worked for them.

Training ones Aura however was a completely different matter entirely.

Aura was like a muscle, the more you used it the more powerful it became. But it was also possible to train it in other ways, learning to utilise Aura to create long ranged attacks in the form of slashes that flew from a sword blade for example. Or to concentrate ones Aura in certain places to increase defence exponentially. Most people did this instinctively but the conscious choice was far more powerful and effective. This was because it removed the chance that a Hunter would overcharge their own defence and lose more power than necessary. Should a Hunter or Huntress ever face a situation where they would be battling for hours, or even days, on end proper regulation of their Aura was paramount if they wished to live through the event. Then there were high speed movement techniques that most Huntsmen and Huntress used. They were were all derivatives of Aura Manipulation and due to his lack of Semblance there was no better Huntsman than had graduated from Beacon in the last twenty years that knew more about Aura than Naruto Uzumaki.

He had even managed to master his father's technique. The Rasengan, considered by those who knew how to perform it, currently limited to Naruto Uzumaki, Jiraiya Otsutsuki and possibly Mito Uzumaki. Though Ozpin had a sneaking suspicion that Neopolitan should be on that list as well, as Aura Shape Manipulation taken to its highest extreme.

Even he who, pardon the arrogance, was considered one of the best Huntsmen in livining memory was at a loss for how exactly it was performed, though admittedly he did have some ideas. The attack had suited Minato Namikaze when he was still alive. His Semblance, Movement Point, allowed him to teleport to any thing he had previously 'marked'. Minato had taken advantage of this by Teleporting using hundreds of premarked collapsible knives and hammering home Rasengans as soon as he reappeared.

Ozpin had seen it in action once, the same battle that the man and his wife had died during. The Defence of Mountain Glenn, it was a truly terrifying ability. Minato Namikaze and his wife Kushina Uzumaki had accounted for around eighty percent of the Grimm casualties before dying in the defence of their infant son and over two dozen other babies as they were evacuated from the hospital.

It had been a terrifying techniques and the world was now less for the loss of both Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki.

"Still with as much Aura as Mr Arc has I am sure he will do well under you tutelage. But as I said earlier I like you to focus on his combat skills first and Aura second, the latter is not much use without the former after all. Was that your only question?" The white haired Headmaster asked, it was true that Jaune Arc would flourish under Naruto Uzumaki if given time but he was not the one that Ozpin was most interested in despite his potential. That belonged to the two girls. Ruby Rose a descendent of The Silver Eyed Warriors and Pyrrha Nikos possibly the most talented Huntress to grace Beacon's halls since it had opened and yes, again pardon the arrogance, he was including himself in that assessment.

They both had incredible amounts of potential. Of course Miss Rose had yet to hit her stride but when she did Ozpin imagined that it would be much like when her mother had done the same and left her team mates in the dust when it came to combat ability. Miss Nikos had already began to hit her own stride and it showed, she was easily the most powerful combatant in this years intake currently only being rivaled by Miss Xiao-Long. Should the two come to blows however the blond haired Huntress in Training would lose.

That, of course, was not to say that the other members of their respective teams could not reach the same height for they most certainly could. But it would take blood sweat and tears in large amounts. Thankfully Ozpin did not believe that any members of either Team RWBY or Team JNPR would shy away from hard work. But if they could push through the barrier that would one day separate them from Ruby Rose and Pyrrha Nikos, much like Taiyang Xiao-Long, Raven Branwen and Qrow Branwen had done not so long ago, they would become the kind of things legends were made of.

There was a reason that the team that had contained all four of them, Team STRQ, was considered one of the most powerful that Beacon had ever produced.

"Now shall I bring them up?" Ozpin inquired with a small smile. He watched as Naruto took a deep breath and composed himself before nodding. The blond seated himself again and twisted the chair to face the elevator, while he could not see the expression on his former students face Ozpin would bet it was a mix between concern and outright terror. Most teachers had that expression before they actually had to teach for the first time. They would show concern over if they could do the job right and terror over what could happen to the kids they were in charge of if they did something wrong His scroll let out a small ding as he disengaged the lock on the elevator and sent the two teams a text telling them it was okay to come up. Not ten seconds later there was a small hum as the elevator began to rise.

All things considered Naruto more than little worried about meeting these kids. He really didn't know how he was going to go as a teacher, would he even be any good? As Ozpin had told him there was no real way to answer that question until after the fact. Hopefully, as long as it was kept to combat and Aura Manipulation, he would be adequate. Still teaching a bunch of teenagers was going to be stressful, he was only twenty two for crying out loud, he was barely out of his teens himself! How the hell was he supposed to dispense life advice and such to teens when he barely had anymore experience than they did!?

The blond swallowed his nervousness. Well it was a little to late to back out now. Well that and Naruto seriously doubted that Ozpin would be impressed if he jumped out of one of the nearby windows to escape the kids after taking him up on the job offer.

The elevator doors dinged as they opened, signally his chance to run had passed. Which was probably a good thing considering they were more than a dozen stories up and Naruto couldn't really fly, though he could fall gracefully if the occasion called for it. It was also at this time that Naruto was to bare witness to one of the most ridiculous sights he had ever had the, rather dubious, pleasure of witnessing.

Eight people crammed into an elevator meant to fit five at most, weapons and all.

At the fore front of the group, squished between a girl with a black bow, Blake Belladonna, and a girl who was dressed in white and pink, Nora Valkyrie his mind supplied quickly. Was a girl in red who seemed a little young to be attending Beacon. She was easily the shortest of the group. But it was her hair that confused Naruto for a second. It appeared black until the sunlight hit it at just the right angle revealing that the young lady's hair was actually such a dark red it would appear black unless you were looking very closely and the light was shining upon it in just the right way. Her red cloak was a dead give away on who she was, Ruby Rose. Which also meant that she was the niece that Qrow could not shut up about the last time they had met, some two and a half years ago.

Which meant that girl who was being pressed into the side of the elevator by Blake Belladonna and a man in white, Jaune Arc Naruto's mind helpfully supplied, was probably Yang Xiao-Long, Taiyang's eldest. The blond hair was a bit of a give away.

The bracelets that he could barely make out past the other people were a big help though. Naruto had only met Taiyang Xiao-Long twice but he remembered the man's weapons and fighting style well. On the other side of Jaune Arc was a young woman with green eyes and red hair, Pyrrha Nikos, who looked as if she was very uncomfortable. Not surprising considering that a girl with white hair, that was most likely Weiss Schnee Winter's little sister unless Naruto's information was horribly wrong, was being pressed straight into her sternum by Lie Ren who was being squished by Nora.

Which made eight in all, two teams and everyone Ozpin had told him to expect. Naruto could barely hold in his laughter as Ruby stumbled out of the elevator, pushed free by the pressure around her. Every other aspiring Hunter or Huntress inside scrambling out after her in a desperate bid for freedom.

"Oh God I thought I was going to die." Jaune was the first to break the silence gasping down air like a man who had just been drowning. The others seemed to agree as no one attempted to correct him, Naruto even caught Weiss, who's file had indicated that she appeared to have a strong dislike of Jaune, nodding in agreement.

"I think we should head back down in two groups." Ren was the next to speak. His words were calm and collected, if one ignored the small gasps for breath. But he was still eying the elevator warily like it was a Grimm about to attack him.

"That was less fun than people who like waffles more than pancakes." Nora added, causing every person in the room to look at her strangely except for Ren who just seemed to accept Nora's craziness as 'A Nora Thing'. That was fine. Naruto could deal with crazy, especially Nora's brand of crazy which was, from what he had seen at least, the harmless type of crazy. Besides Kakashi had called him crazy more than once when he had asked for the older man's advice on the training regime Naruto had designed for himself to increase his Aura and ability at Aura Manipulation.

Kakashi had called it both Crazy and Training From Hell at varying points.

More importantly all his nervousness was gone now. Thanks to their impromptu comedy skit he didn't find the kids to be at all intimidating anymore. Still the first class he'd be teaching them was going to be called Common Sense.

Seriously, he was not the brightest bulb in the bunch at their age, Sasuke had called him The Invincible Idiot until around age twenty for a reason after all. And Neo had never stopped. But even Naruto could tell that it was a bad idea to try and fit that many people in such a tiny space. Especially when all of them were heavily armed and would take up even more space than normal.

"Naruto these are Teams RWBY and JNPR. All of whom appear to have forgotten Glynda's advisory to go one team at a time." Ozpin stated, the second half sounding vastly more amused than annoyed. His words also snapped the group out of there own personal world and into the present. This caused all involved to scramble to right themselves and stand side by side.

Which was a good thing as far as Naruto was concerned since pushing one person forward would have meant they were going to hide behind them rather than stand with them. It was likely an unconscious choice but it meant that on some level or another these kids already respected one another, even if some of them didn't want to admit it. That was good, it meant they had already learned one of the most important lessons. A Team is only strong when it stands together, Kakashi had taught him that. Time would only tell if they could learn the most important lesson of all, Those that break the rules are trash but those that abandoned their friends are worse than trash. Considering how they were acting though somehow Naruto didn't think they would have to much of a problem with it.

"Team RWBY reporting for duty." The red cloaked scythe user stated looking down at her boots, she seemed rather abashed about the whole event that had just happened. That or it could be the social awkwardness that her file had made a note of. More comfortable around weapons than people Naruto believed was the exact wording. Well they could work through that, Neo had been much the same when they had first met as well.

"Team JNPR is here to Mr. Ozpin, Sir." Jaune tried to follow Ruby's example and admittedly did a passable job. But the fact he wasn't from a Battle Academy showed itself in his presentation more than anything else. Ruby's introduction of her Team was standard, the way one was taught to introduce themselves for a solo job, or their Team if they were a leader, before hearing the details of a mission. Jaune could probably play off being from a combat school for another six months at best before Glynda decided enough was enough and sent him packing and if she got enough of the Professors on her side there would be nothing Ozpin would be able to do about it.

Ozpin may have been the Headmaster but at it's core Beacon was a Democracy not a Dictatorship. While the Professors held no official power over some matters they could still make life incredibly difficult should they not be listened to.

Jaune was the man that Naruto was going to need to spend the most time with in the beginning. He was far behind all of his peers in every area of being a Huntsman, with the exception of Leadership if what Naruto had read in his file was correct. Jaune would need the most correction and help to start with. Still if the teen had as much potential as Ozpin believed and put his all into the work then it was not a gap in knowledge or skill that would last forever.

"Thank you for coming." Ozpin stated, rising from his chair as the two Teams focused their eyes on his figure with only a few curious glances coming Naruto's way. That said the blond did not like the look he was getting from Taiyang's eldest at all, it was like a big cat sizing up it's next meal and that was just not on. One because Taiyang would probably try to kill him if the stories that Qrow had told him actually held any water and Two, and vastly more importantly, because Naruto was not into Jailbait no matter how good it looked and Three, he was a teacher now and relationships with students in any capacity beyond professional was just not on.

"Now then I'm sure that you are all wondering why you are here." The white haired man continued his cane tapping on the floor with every step he took. That however, Naruto knew, was only for dramatic purposes only. Ozpin did not actually need any assistance walking whatsoever, though it must be nice to be able to carry around your chosen weapon without most ever realising it. Neo had been the same way with her weird parasol, shotgun, rifle, sword, spear hybrid thing. Naruto had never actually worked out what to call it really and Neo had thought it was a grand joke to never tell him her weapons name either.

"Ren, do you think it's about pancakes?" The words came out as almost a whisper from the left hand side of the two teams. As Nora Valkyrie spoke to the man next to her while cocking her head to the side in a manner reminiscent of a confused canine. Naruto would wager that Nora would never speak out of turn around Glynda but that said Ozpin was far more approachable than his second in command.

That woman still scared him.

"I doubt it Nora, now please listen." Ren's response was quick and to the point. It was quite nice of Ozpin to let them have that byplay rather than cutting them off like most teachers would. That said Naruto had always found the white haired Headmaster to be far more lax and easy going than his peers. Whether that was a good or a bad thing was something that could only be left up to personal opinion.

"You are all here because I see something in you that no person passing through the doors of Beacon has possessed in the last two years. Each and every one of you has the potential to be some of the most powerful Hunters or Huntresses this world has ever seen and I intend to help you in achieving that potential." Ozpin stated his eyes boring into each and every member of the two assembled teams but they rested for extra second on Jaune Arc.

"Every man, woman and child that comes to this Academy has the potential to be great. But there are a rare few have the potential to become legends and I see this potential in each and every one of you. However this is not a road that is easily traveled and even if you are shown the path and told how it could be walked you and you alone must decide if you wish to walk it. I do believe I said much the same to all of you on your very first day here." He added with sharp eyes. Naruto couldn't help but wonder if he gave them the same speech that his own year was given. The 'You have to take the first step' speech wasn't the most uplifting of things that could be said to new arrivals but damn if it wasn't daring you to be the biggest badass you could be.

Sasuke had once appropriated parts of it when they had been training a militia group in one of the hidden villages. They had needed to whip them into shape quickly as there was a wave of desert dwelling Gimm baring down on them that would have arrived the next day. Some of Ozpin's speech had been stolen by Sasuke and himself while daring each and every man and woman that had agreed to defend their homes to be the biggest heroes they could be.

"Now then as I said you all have potential and I want to help you reach it but your classes can only do so much. As such I have decided that I will be assigning you a personal Combat Instructor. This will mean that you shall have less free time but I can guarantee that your skills will improve in leaps and bounds. That said it is your choice if you wish to take up the training or not, I will not force you." Naruto stood, he was probably about to be introduced anyway and he preferred standing up when that happened, personal quirk really. Well that and there was that one guy who had tried to kill him during an business introduction in Mistral while he was sitting down so it was also a kind of paranoia he guessed.

"This is Naruto Uzumaki. If you choose to take up the training then he will be your instructor. Fair warning he is merciless when it comes to training so be ready for that." Ozpin said with a small smirk. Naruto threw a glare at his former Headmaster and current Employer.

Yes because telling them outright that he was a slave driver when it came to training was really going to make them jump at the opportunity to be trained by him. The only reason he didn't speak up and correct Ozpin was that, well he wasn't wrong. Naruto was a slave driver when it came to training both himself and others. As far as Naruto was concerned if you were training to fight The Creatures of Grimm then you should be training as hard as you possibly could to get ready for it, suffer now live later. The Headmaster threw him a look and the blond haired Hunter realised that the two teams were waiting for him to introduce himself.

"Hi," The blond said to the assembled group with an enthusiastic wave. "Name's Naruto Uzumaki I'll be your Combat Instructor for the next couple of years, hope we get along well." He was quite pleased when, despite Ozpin's less than stellar introduction, Nora, Ruby, Pyrrha and Jaune at least waved back while the rest just watched him uncertainly.

Then again they had all probably waved to him since every last one was simply to nice to do anything else. Which was nice in its own way but Naruto couldn't help but feel like he would have gotten a warmer welcome if Ozpin hadn't acted like he was some kind of sadist when it came to training.

"I have a question Sir," The words were calm and measured. Coming from the right side of the group Naruto's blue eyes instantly nailed down the one who had spoken. Blake Belladonna aspiring student of Beacon, former member of The White Fang and, most importantly of all to Naruto. Quite possibly abused by both Anti-Faunus Humans and Adam Taurus who was the current leader of The White Fang and as crazy as they came on a good day. Naruto had never met the man in person but everything he'd been able to gather pointed that Adam Taurus was either crazier than a sack of cats or a sociopath. He was still trying to decide which was worse.

"Why us? Is every team getting their own personal Combat Instructor in addition to the class' ran by Professor Goodwitch or are we a completely isolated case?" Her question was to the point. Ozpin seemed to consider it for a second before answering.

"You will be an isolated case, in fact your two teams will be the only ones at Beacon that have their personal Combat Instructor." He answered, now it was time to see if they had any follow up questions.

"Not that I have any problems with the idea that we're special or anything but why us in particular. I know you said we could become 'legends' but what exactly makes you think that?" Yang asked the next question, proving that the partnership between Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao-Long, who seemed more and more familiar the more he saw her, was made for a very good reason indeed.

One complemented the other almost perfectly. Most thought Beacon's method of deciding partnerships to be haphazard at best, they would be wrong.

Every aspiring Hunter and Huntress had their psychological profiles and abilities tracked over with a fine toothed comb before being launched into The Emerald Forest. Their platforms were then calibrated according to what the school could predict would be their chosen landing strategy to put them as close to their ideal match as possible. Ozpin had told Naruto years ago, the first and last time he had shadowed one of the cheats trying to sneak their way in. The only reason that the teams were not told who their partner would be before they entered the forest was so that they could test how the aspiring students would act and perform under pressure. It was not easy to trust someone with your life in combat without knowing them while having to adapt to a partner who's fighting style they, usually at least, had never actually seen in action before.

Neo and he had almost killed each other twice before making it out of the forest and they were one of the partnerships that had the least accidents.

Ozpin had also told him, years later naturally, that Neopolitan and he had been pegged as partners as soon as their psychological profiles had come up next to each other. He was one of the few likely to be unphased by the fact that she was mute and could only communicate through text or a voice synthesizer. Naruto had always found that weird, that people were put off by that about Neo. Those who were dumb enough to make fun of her for it around him would do so once, just once.

There peronalities were differenet and yet similar at the same time. He was loud out going and brash while Neo had been quiet and introverted. In the end they had both rubbed off on each other. Naruto had become calmer and more liable to think his problems through rather than rushing them head on. Neopolitan, by comparison, had become more confident and let herself enjoy battle rather than constantly holding herself back. Naruto liked to think he had made her a bit more impulsive to, thinking your problems through was fine but sometimes you just needed to draw your weapon say 'fuck it' and see what happened. Also his pure power approach to combat, well at least that was the approach he had back then, was balanced by Neo's favouring of Illusions and subtlety.

It had taken almost a full year after they had been partnered for him to stop relying on his sword play and pure power to see him through fights. It was at the same time that Naruto had started to learn how to create the Rasengan. It required him to have a level of control over his Aura and a subtlety behind that control that he had never needed before, simply brute forcing his way through the technique was no longer an option.

The first person he had gone to for training advice on both had been Neo, who back then knew more about both than Naruto thought he would ever learn. He had finally outstripped her knowledge on the arts of Aura Manipulation in third year as Gaara, Sasuke and Neo herself focused more on her Semblance and Naruto needed to enhance his control and power along with expanding his techniques in utilising his Aura in order to keep up.

"The simple answer to that question is that all of you have more potential than your classmates, but that is not the right answer." Ozpin replied taking a sip of his coffee as he did so. "You have been singled out because you can more readily reach your potential than your classmates. Some of who have a less than stellar work ethic, something I am sure they will address in due time. Unfortunately time is one of the few things we are running out of. The other reason comes in two forms, one in the form of Miss Nikos and the other in Miss Rose. They have some of the greatest amounts of potential I have ever laid eyes on and you all have the ability to keep up with them if you push yourselves."

"So we're getting special treatment because we're in the same teams as those two?" The question was asked by Winter's little sister and far more politely than Winter would have at her age as well, Naruto knew that for a fact. Despite her name Winter Schnee could be even more hotheaded than he could be at times.

It should be noted that those who actually knew Naruto Uzumaki would contest that last statement.

"Yes." Ozpin's answer was blunt and to the point. "You all have incredible potential but yes. If you had not been on either of their teams this offer would not have been placed before you." He seemed to take a moment to compose himself and Naruto saw the telltale signs of a man at war with his conscience about something. After a second Ozpin looked very tired as he continued talking.

"Tell me what do you think about the current world we live in, are we experiencing a time or peace or not?" His inquiry was simple and strangely enough it was Nora who chose to answer it.

"Yep!" The pink themed hammer wielder answered energetically. "Currently The Four Kingdoms are experiencing the largest time of peace in recorded history, both Grimm attacks, with the exception of the attack on Mountain Glenn a little over twenty years ago, and combat between Kingdoms is at an all time low!" She finished with a huge smile, Naruto made a mental note.

Nora Valkyrie is nowhere near as dumb as she tries to let on.

Ozpin seemed to absorb the words slowly, it was unfortunate that Nora was both right and wrong at the same time. Due to some of the work he had done with Neo in Vale's underworld as well as his connection back in Vacuo Naruto knew for a fact that something was coming. He wasn't sure what but over the last couple of years things had been building up and it was coming to a head. No one he had talked to seemed to know what the endgame of whoever was moving in the shadows was though and that was setting some people in the underworld even more on edge. Still while Naruto was not the sharpest sword in the armoury the blond was willing to bet good Lein that it was why Ozpin wanted him to train them.

"That is true but tell me something what do you know of the underworld, not the literal personification of purgatory, but the criminal underworld?" Ozpin inquired looking at each in turn. Surprisingly enough, or not considering she was related to Crow Branwen, it was Yang who answered.

"Not a lot, though I do know a few people who dabble in it." She said rubbing her hand on the back of her head and looking abashed. Naruto knew that nervous tick, he had it himself, the blond was willing to bet that Yang Xiao-Long knew a few people who did a bit more than just dabbled. Now that he thought about it wasn't Junior's place trashed by a some woman with long blond hair and bracers? Naruto's mind put Junior's description together with what he was seeing in an instant.

Oh crap, Yang had trashed Junior's bar.

Dammit he liked that bar.

Naruto made a mental note never to let Junior know that he knew Yang Xiao-Long. Knowing the shrewd, if more than a little morally screwed, businessman he would try and find a way to make Naruto pay damages for Yang's rampage, no thank you.

"Well while the criminal underworld certainly is a hive of scum and villainy. Though it does have the odd thrill seeker to be found every now and then." Naruto did his best to look as inconspicuous as a six foot seven man wearing a red coat could at Ozpin's last remark. The blond also wondered if any of the kids had gotten that Star Wars reference.

"It is also a wonderful place to pick up information about The Four Kingdoms that is not publicly known. The information that I have obtained, along with the information made availble to me as the Headmaster of Beacon has led me to an incredibly alarming conclusion." Ozpin admitted, looking up at the gears turning above his head for a second. Naruto never understood all the clock work gears and such around the Headmaster. He'd had a theory as a student that Ozpin had a Time based Semblance but to this day he had no proof if that was the truth or if the clocks were just a stylistic choice.

"Most of this information indicates one thing, our brief time of peace may very well be coming to an end. There appears to be be some faction that is actively working to destroy our time of peace and throw The Four Kingdoms back into the blood soaked days of the past." Okay that was sufficently alarming enough to put Naruto very much on edge. He had known something was up for a long time. Money, men and dust had been moving around the underworld for years now in increasingly large amounts, everyone knew something was coming but no one had any idea what it was. Now that he knew Naruto almost wished he didn't because it was far worse than he had ever imagined, an end to the peace of The Four Kingdoms, that was nightmare level bad.

Not quite end of the world but it was up there.

It rated a solid Eight Out Of Ten on his Oh Shit! O-Meter.

"This information indictates that this facton, and no Miss Schnee it is not The White Fang, intends on taking some grand undertaking that will undermine The Four Kingdoms. Worse still is that from what I have gathered they are not only fully capable of doing so but have already begun making great strides towards that goal." Ozpin stated looking at each person in the room, Naruto included, to make sure they understood the severity of the situation.

Well that was more than mildly concerning, he would be making a call to Gaara and Sasuke once this was over because this was information that they needed to know. Naruto had figured when Ozpin had started talking about a threat to The Four Kingdoms it was something that was already being handled. But given the way his new Employer was speaking it was like even he was unsure of who the real enemy was, and that was more than mildly terrifying to put it lightly.

Make that a solid Nine Out Of Ten.

"That is the real reason I am offering you this training. When they begin to enact their plan, and make no mistake they will attempt to do so if given enough time. Should that come to pass than it would be extremely beneficial if all of you were well on your way to reaching your full potential. Both in order to protect The Kingdom of Vale and your friends. I am, in the end. Asking you all to give up what's left of your childhoods in order to become the kind of defenders that can stand up to this threat should it come to pass. That is the truth, that is why your two teams, the two that have the most obvious potential in the school at this moment, are being offered this opportunity." The white haired Headmaster took a deep breath and stared down the teams before him.

"Were this under more favourable circumstances then we would never even be having this conversation. However circumstances being what they are at this moment I have very little choice in the matter. Normally Huntsmen and Huntresses are asked to give their lives for the cause, but in most cases that only happens after they have had a chance to at least live first. I am not asking that you give your lives for the cause. In fact I hope that you never have to lose them to violence of any kind. But I am still asking far more than any your age should be asked for. I am asking you to give up what is left of your innocence in order to be ready to fight a war, because should this faction get their way then war will be what comes to us. I want all of you to know that I understand exactly what I am asking of each and every one of you. Yet given the circumstances that we may soon face I find myself with precious few option and as such I. Am. Asking." Ozpin stated bluntly his eyes sharp as he look at each of the aspiring Huntsmen and Huntresses in turn.

"What would this training involve." The question was posed by Pyrrha who seemed extremely concerned about the information that had just been revealed. Not that she was alone in that, they all seemed extremely concerned about it. Hell Naruto was extremely concerned about it, he was just hiding it better than they were.

"That is something I have already discussed with Mr, no I suppose I should call him Professor Uzumaki now." Ozpin said, Naruto felt a shiver go up his spine. Him respectable and responsible, who would have thought it? Naruto didn't have a good relationship with responsibility and the title Professor seemed to carry a lot of responsibility with it.

In fact Naruto's relationship with responsibility mostly consisted of responsibility sobbing hysterically in a corner while Naruto Uzumaki did whatever the hell he liked.

"This training regime will be, initially at least, an accelerated form of what you would learn in this academy with added combat training. By the end of this year we hope to have your theory work on the same level of those just starting third year and your combat skills on the same level if not greater. Honestly speaking we will be aiming for greater in both areas. However until you actually begin the training we can not be sure exactly how fast either will progress." Ozpin stated looking at the group who seemed to be very carefully considering his proposal. Even Nora's eyes were narrowed as she seemed to be dissecting every single word that came out of the Headmaster's mouth.

"In addition to that you will also be learning advanced Aura Manipulation. As the name implies it is the manipulation of Aura. Most of the techniques that you will be taught you have probably either heard of before or even already know. However most never learn how to utilise them correctly until they have already become veteran Huntsmen and Huntresses, in that respect you will be a fair way ahead of the curve. Despite his youth there only one person currently alive in any of The Four Kingdoms that knows Aura Manipulation better than Professor Uzumaki. Even then it would be a matter of debate on which of them actually knows more." Ozpin continued, Naruto wasn't sure if Ozpin was just trying to sell them the training program or not but that was still one hell of a compliment. The blond was also very aware of just who the one person who could be better than him at Aura Manipulation could be Jiraiya, his Godfather.

That said, personally Naruto thought Ozpin was a bit off. As far as he was concerned it was not 'up for debate' who knew more about Aura Manipulation. The answer was clear from the get go, it was Jiraiya hands down. While he certainly didn't look it the chances were that his Godfather knew more about Aura Manipulation than he would ever learn, his grandmother could be added to that category as well most likely.

Apparently Hiruzen Sarutobi, the man who had taught Jiraiya, knew even more than he did. Then again when Hiruzen had been in his prime, some sixty years ago now, they had called him The God of War for the man's unmatched combat ability.

Naruto had only met the old man once before he had died at age eighty five. But even wrapped up on his deathbed Hiruzen Sarutobi had excluded a power and presence that none he had met before, or since, had ever matched. He was also kind and compassionate to a fault even with only one meeting that man had more of Naruto's respect than almost anyone else he had ever met. And those who did have more of his respect than Hiruzen Sarutobi could be counted on each hand with fingers left over.

"As for the actual schedule well we have a frame work. Naturally however we will need to change it around a bit as you settle into life here and as other events come up. Your training will take place from Monday through to Saturday, with Sunday being your only rest day. Your teams will begin in the morning before classes. The first class of the day begins at nine every morning except for Saturdays so your training shall begin at six am." Ozpin took a deep breath in before continuing.

"We are still working out the specifics but it will finish at eight. That will give you one hour to eat breakfast, have a shower and get to class. That will happen every day from Monday to Friday. Your classes end at three pm and you will be required to report to Naruto at four pm. At which point your training will commence once more. This training session will continue until seven pm at which point you can have dinner a shower and do any homework that your teachers require. Naturally Ruby and Jaune will have to miss the beginning of some sessions due to their responsibilities in the Leadership Program but we shall cross that bridge when we come to it." Ozpin looked at him for a second as if asking if he had forgotten anything, Naruto nodded, so far everything was correct to the best of his recollection.

"That will be your life on Monday to Friday. We are reasonably certain that physical exercise and conditioning will be done in the morning. In the afternoon you shall work more on technique and the theory side of things but we are still discussing that. Saturday will be far more intense. Your day will begin at six, as it does during the rest of the week, however this time the training session shall last all day. From six in the morning until seven at night. You do not need to worry overly most of it will be taken up by theory. You shall also be given some time to finish work required of you by your other Professors if you complete the other theory work fast enough. Sunday will be left up to you to enjoy, you may do whatever you like but I would recommend keeping it very low key as your bodies will need time to recover." Ozpin finished his description of their training making Yang grimace as she spoke.

"So if we do this we're going to have close to no free time." The young Huntress stated making the white haired man nod regretfully.

"Yes that would be correct. As I said I am asking you to give up what is left of your childhood for this and I did not mean that figuratively. You will have barely any time to do anything aside from rest, train and attend classes. However I can also assure you that this will increase your skill and ability in leaps and bounds." Ozpin stated staring down the blond who nodded slowly as her face turned pensive, much the same as the rest of the group.

"What can you tell us about this group that wants to destroy peace?" The words came from what was the most unexpected source in the room, barring Nora. Ren's eyes bore into the two men before him as he voiced his question. Ozpin regarded the young man for a second before he began to speak.

"Very little, unfortunately. We know that they have been subverting some people in government for quite some time as well as attacking intelligence operatives. Possibly even replacing or altering information that is being gathered by them when they are not simply eliminating them. They are also stockpiling Dust in very large amounts, amounts large enough to arm an army. Considering that the latest reports that I have managed to gather indicate that they may be attempting to convince The White Fang to join them they could have that army shortly." Ozpin stated, funnily enough it was Jaune who asked the next question.

"Come on Teach there's no way The White Fang has enough men to make up an army...right?" He stated, though considering Ozpin's dark look Jaune seemed to be considering the idea that his assumption could be wrong.

It was not.

The White Fang were an extremest group and their numbers, compared against the numbers of Faunus world wide and against the armies of The Four Kingdoms, were insignificant. But that said if they knew when and where to strike they could still do an incredible amount of damge. Perhaps, if their timing was just right and they knew exactly where to strike they could even go as far as crippling Vale or destroying it. Naruto's mind was quickly painting him the picture of the worst case scenario. Because destruction was seeming more and more likely in his mind, The White Fang were not enough to be considered an army that was true. However why would they need an army when there had been one waiting outsied of Vale's walls for hundreds of years just waiting to be let in. Hopefully he was wrong. But considering the look on Ozpin's face Naruto was fairly certain that the Headmaster had long since come to the same conclusion.

Make that a Nine Point Five.

"You are correct Mr Arc. Even if these two groups were to join together then they would not have the man power necessary to wage a full scale military campaign. However let me ask you all something, what do you think will happen if this group begins to move up its time table. If they begin stealing even more Dust? We are already on the edge of a Dust shortage after all and these acts of theft have only been going on for six months, it is starting to stir up a lot of negative feelings in the populous as well." Ozpin asked his question as the students debated it in their heads, unsurprisingly it was Weiss who answered first. Most likely due to her upbringing as the Heiress to The Schnee Dust Company she had been tutored on what happened during a Dust Shortage.

"Well when the Dust Shortage first starts the cost of living will increase as Vale has to call in more Dust at an inflated price in order to power the city. The majority of that Dust will be set aside for Military and Civil Works while the remainder will be sold to the stores such at a vastly inflated price. This will increase the amount of money it will cost private citizens to buy Dust based products like Dust Rounds and such. This, in turn, will put a significant drain on the economy that could take years to recover from. Of course that is a worst case scenario." She answered quickly getting a nod from Ozpin who acknowledged her points.

"Very good Miss Schnee. If Beacon were like that delightful Harry Potter series I would tell you to take ten points." He stated trying to inject some humour in the situation, it failed miserably. "What you missed was the continued long term effects that we need to worry about. The increase in cost of living will rouse yet more negative feeling in the people of Vale the longer it goes on. Drawing Grimm closer and closer to the border. If this is inter spaced with terrorist activities, which would be a logical next step given that they will possibly have ties with The White Fang soon, this feeling of fear will be compounded by the Dust Shortage." Ozpin sipped his coffee, Naruto began to wonder how much liquid the mug actually held because it was getting ridiculous at this point. He swore that mug must have been bigger on the inside.

"If this goes on for long enough The Grimm will get closer and closer to Vale. The people of this Kingdom still remember the massacre at Mountain Glenn of that I assure you. The closer The Grimm get the more the city will become on edge and the further the city becomes on edge the more Grimm that will gather." He stated rubbing his chin thoughtfully before turning to the students again.

"What do you think would be the easiest way to destabilise the current peace in Vale if one had no moral dilemma over killing others?"He asked making the group think. Oddly it was Norra that answered with a look on her face that was very much out of place for the normally cheerful girl.

"Kill the leaders of Vale, The Council. It would cause panic in the city after all if they can get to the Council then who could possibly be safe?" Her answer was quick and morbid. It was also completely accurate.

"Correct, and the death of Vale's Council would cause panic in all other area's of the city drawing more Grimm to Vale's borders. So now the million Lien question. How do you think this group could destabilise the entirety of The Four Kingdoms using just Vale?" He asked looking at the group who furrowed their brows in thought. After giving them a minute Ozpin chose to answer his own question.

"The answer is quite simple really, you destroy the city." Ozpin answered simply as if he was talking about the state of the weather rather than possibly the death of several million people. The two teams stared at him in shock and horror while Naruto grimace, his guess had been right on the mark.

God he wished he couldn't say that about this situation.

"It wouldn't even be hard," The white haired man continued. His voice still sounding like he was speaking about a small inconvenience on the level of 'it may rain tomorrow' rather than the death of an entire city. "The Dust Shortage would lead to a shortage of Dust Rounds for the police and military. The price of Dust would mean that Huntsmen and Huntresses would be under equipped to deal with a large scale incursion and the peoples negative feelings would draw The Grimm. This organisation already possesses enough Dust to blow a hole in Vale's outer walls. With the Grimm so close by, and everyone under equipped to handle them, it would be a coin flip as to whether Vale would live or die." Ozpin finished turning back to them and placing his coffee mug down. Seemed like it was finally finished.

"However the destruction of the city would only be the first step in the destabilisation of The Four Kingdoms. Though admittedly it would be an excellent staging point for our enemies." He continued while pacing up and down. Ignoring the growing looks of horror on the students faces and the grimace on Naruto's own.

"Vale is an important hub for trade. Most of the city's wealth is built on it. It provides safe harbour for ships traveling all over the Continent who otherwise would have to take more dangerous routes and carry more fuel leaving less room for passengers and cargo. If Vale fell it would become a Grimm infested wasteland due to the residual emotions. The chances of reclaiming it inside of the next ten to twenty years would be slim to none. Vale's loss would seriously damage trade throughout all of The Four Kingdoms and raise the cost of living everywhere almost readying the cycle to begin again. Not to mention that Vale serves as the relay point for the CCT to Vacuo. Meaning that either more powerful pylons would need to be developed or more relay posts would need to be established, both of which would take years. The most likely time for either project to be completed would be the better part of a decade. During that time Vacuo would be completely cut off. Save for information coming in and out via airship, effectively isolating them from the other members of The Four Kingdoms. Making it the next logical striking point." Ozpin finished rubbing a hand down his face.

"We have no idea where this organisation's plans would go from there. But make no mistake if Vale falls they will cripple the other members of The Four Kingdoms." He stated looking at each member of Team RWBY and JNPR in turn as his gaze softened slightly.

"I know I am asking a lot. But that is the situation. That is the scale. Should a time come when this plan is put into action, and we can not stop it. Then we will need every able bodied Huntsman and Huntress that we can lay our hands on. I know that doing this will most likely cost you your innocence. The last vestiges of your childhood and possibly even your life. But as I said before we currently have precious little in the way of option. Which means that I need to make use of every resource avilible to me, even those I do not wish to." Ozpin finished bowing his head. Naruto gulped even he hadn't figured that the end effect would be that bad. Still he had trusted the Headmaster with his life before and he trusted the man's information now.

"Why are you telling us all of this?" Blake's voice was quite clearly less calm that it had been. In fact by the look in her eyes she was quite close to the edge of panic. Not that she was alone. Just about every other person in the room was at the same point, Naruto included. Thankfully with age came wisdom, wisdom like how to hide the fact that the information you were just give completely terrified you.

"Yes shouldn't the people be warned about something like this!?" Weiss cut in almost immediately after. Her voice raising as her mind proceed the information edging on hysteria at the scenario that had been presented to her. Ozpin stared them all down without flinching.

"Your reactions are precisely the reason this information has not been shared with the general public." He stated bluntly looking at each of them in turn as the group still looked on the edge of panic.

"You are men and women training to be Huntsmen and Huntresses and this threat has you almost scared out of your mind before it has even arrived. What exactly do you think will happen if this information was released to people who did not have the training and weaponry to defend themselves?" He questioned, raising a single white eyebrow.

"Wide spread panic and the negative emotions made by such an announcement would be incredible that..." Pyrrha trailed off as she looked up at Ozpin, eyes slowly gaining the gleam of horror back to them that had been lost before as Ozpin had been speaking.

"Would draw The Grimm even faster." He finished the thought with a grimace. "Not only that but we would have to explain where this information came from, possibly making quite a few intelligence assets that can give us information at the moment the next best thing to useless. It would also increase the feelings of negativity towards the Faunus once they know that The White Fang could be involved. Which in turn will increase the Faunus negativity towards humans both of which would draw Grimm even faster. Should that discrimination become prevalent enough it could well drive even more Faunus into the waiting arms of The White Fang and swell our enemies numbers." Ozpin finished bluntly before looking at each student in the room with kind eyes.

"I shouldn't even be telling you children any of this and I will admit that I considered lying to all of you in order to spare you this information. But if I am to ask you to give up all that this training will require of you the you have the right to know the truth. Now however I must ask you for two things, firstly please do not reveal any of this information to anyone else. Do not write it down anywhere even if you are convinced of it's safety and please do not speak of it unless Naruto or I am there to make sure you have no unwanted listeners. You all ready have an idea of what kind of damage it could do if it got out." Ozpin stated with a frown caressing his lips.

"Now I must ask you if you will accept the offer that has been put before you. Make no mistake it is an offer, if you chose to walk away and hold on to your childhood I will think no less of you. After all there is a chance, a good chance if everything go's to plan, that the worst case scenario I described to you shall never come to pass. Should that be the case you will have given up your childhood for nothing, please be aware of that. But right now I have to know if you will stand up and be counted among the greatest defenders of this Kingdom or if I must look to other contingencies." Ozpin finished his eyes roving over the children before him and that was exactly what they were, children. But if they took this offer than they would no longer be children soon enough and he truly regretted that fact.

The silence between the two groups stretched. Naruto could see it in their faces, some of them wanted to walk out the door and pretend this conversation had never happened. But in the end they couldn't, he could see it in their eyes they were all, to a man, to good of a bunch to do that.

"I'll do it." The words were quiet but strong and filled with resolve few several times her age could hope to match. Ruby Rose stepped forward from her team and declared her intent once more. "I'll do it, I always wanted to be a hero, a Huntress, what kind of hero would I be if I backed down now and just let this happen?" It was a question no one in the room chose to answer.

"I shall join her." The next words came from Pyrrha Nikos. Who's words were the key that opened up the floodgates for the members of both teams.

"We'll if my Sis is in then so am I! Can't let her beat the bad guys without me." Yang Xiao-Long spoke up with a smile that carried more than a hint of steel.

"If Pyrrha's going, I'm going." Jaune Arc's proclamation was firm, even if everyone was pretending not to notice his knees shaking.

"I will join you." Ren added with a smile. A rare occurrence for the young man judging but what Naruto had read.

"Where Ren goes I go!" Norra declared her stance almost protective.

"I can't just stand back and let something like this happen." Blake added her eyes cold as an arctic winter. Naruto would bet good Lien that it was the news that The White Fang could be involved that had swayed her the most. For someone who used to be a member. Who had probably believed in their cause wholeheartedly at some point. It was probably imperative that she stop them with her own hands.

"I agree, I will not allow something like this to happen to any city if I can help stop it." Weiss was the last to throw in her own two cents. However that did not mean that her own decree was no less passionate than her partners. Ozpin looked over the two teams with a smile in place, it was small but carried more warmth inside it than any Naruto had ever seen before.

"Teams RWBY and JNPR have been formed for only a little over a week." He stated slowly the smile not growing in the slightest but the warmth it radiated felt like the sun. "I have asked you to give up your childhoods and perhaps even your lives to protect Vale and The Four Kingdoms from a threat most do not even know exist. And yet not even one of you has backed away or let your team head on without you. I can say with absolute certainty that at this moment I have never been prouder of any student to have passed through Beacon and I am honoured to be your Headmaster," Ozpin finished.

Naruto couldn't help but agree with that sentiment, though he didn't feel the pride as strongly as Ozpin did. After all he had never actually taught before and thus didn't have the same kind of investment in these kids, yet anyway. Still they had all agreed to throw away their last years of childhood, their innocence and possibly even their lives in the defence of others. Naruto would be damned before he did not respect them for that.

Come The White Fang, mysterious organisation's with genocidal tendencies that wanted to end peace or a full blown Grimm invasion.

They were his kids now and he was not about to let them down no matter what happened.

 **Chapter One- End.**


End file.
